Lucho Gonzalez, it’s Official…
By: Magnusson |
8 Comments
We’ve been hearing about it for three weeks now but now it has been confirmed by the club’s internet website a few minutes ago. Marseille just concluded the highest transfer in its history by paying 18 million euros plus many bonuses every time we qualify for the Champions League to Porto for their now ex-Captain. The man nicknamed El Commandante will be joining his teammates in Evian once he passes the traditional medical visit sometime this week and is subsequently presented to the press.
This is the first official signing of the Dassier era, which we’ll be talking a little more about in a few days. Welcome to Lucho Gonzalez, who is an excellent player who was linked with Marseille back when Jean Fernandez was already our coach.
If Lucho passes the visit, he’ll be signing for four years and will be numerically replacing Modeste M’bami.
the argentine international may be folowed very closey by Souleymane Diawara, who seems to be closer to Marseille than ever before.
Category: Uncategorized
Riberys next move - an Olympique de Marseille perspective
By: Daniel Phan | 8 Comments
Since we are ripe in the midst of the transfer season, I thought it would be interesting to provide a quick commentary on the possible destination of a former Olympique de Marseille son: Franck Ribery.
Since his good showing in the 2006 World Cup, Ribery has continued to blossom in his creative midfield role, going from strength to strength; making for one of the hottest properties in European football today. Those who tuned into the second tie between Bayern Munchen and FC Barcelona will tell you all about him. Kudos to OM for culminating such a talent! (All this seconded by Ludovic Giuly who gladly watched Ribery at the World Cup from the comfort of his lounge room) - I clearly didn’t fare too well in Comedy101. Read the rest of this entry »
Drogba-to-Marseille prospect returns in cyclical fashion
By: Daniel Phan | 14 Comments
It’s intriguing, or rather not – to hear of speculation surrounding the ‘imminent’ return of Didier Drogba to the Vélodrome.
You may ask “Why the pessimism? My answer is simply that it has been a reoccurring scenario that comes and goes in periodical cycles as frequent as Berlusconi makes the Italian tabloids – each instance teasing heartened Marseille fans like myself.
In the past, nothing has ever developed out of the speculation besides endearing words from the Côte d’Ivoire international himself; directed at the Marseille club and its supporters. Though pleasing to the ears of the legion of sky blue fans, its been nothing but friendly communication from Drogba.
Just weeks since Drogba’s latest admission of his affection for Marseille (June 10th) comes a rather ambitious and undoubtedly fan-pleasing ploy from the man ready to step into the Marseille Presidential role vacated by Pape Diouf.
In the wake of the recent administration tragedy that is Diouf’s departure from the organisation – Jean-Claude Dassier, his imminent replacement (Diouf is irreplaceable) has declared a desire in re-attaining the services of the Ivorian goal-getter as he plots his assault on the transfer market in a attempt alleviate frustrations from disenchanted fans after the club’s unpopular decision of ousting Erik Gerets and Pape Diouf. Read the rest of this entry »
President Pape Diouf was Fired…
By: Magnusson | 10 Comments
Oh boy. I’m just shocked. I don’t want to comment on this too hastily.
Robert Louis-Dreyfus decided to fire Pape Diouf this afternoon and as I just said, I’ll wait until both parties have officially given their versions to speak on this.
But as I said before, this is the biggest mistake I’ve ever seen. And holy fucking shit we’ve made shitloads of mistakes.
Category: UncategorizedWill Pape Diouf be our president next season?
By: Magnusson | 13 Comments
We all know how Marseille is a very popular club and how jealous of Pape Diouf a lot of people are and have become. His position is the hardest one in France without question but a lot of people would want that prestige for themselves. The president has been criticized internally for months now if not years by a few people at the club, namely Vincent Labrune, who has been gunning for his spot ever since he got Robert Louis-Dreyfus‘ ears and is much closer to the magnate than Diouf is.
This wednesday night, Pape Diouf skipped one of the Directory’s meetings in Paris to take care of the club in Marseille. This created a new polemic, as it was believed that a few members of that directory would be criticizing him for the Ribery incident and his handling of the whole Gerets situation. Read the rest of this entry »
Salim Arrache leaving as well…
By: Magnusson | 5 Comments
Here are some players whose names I haven’t heard in a while, Salim Arrache and Fabrice Begeorgi. The two Marseille natives were kept in rosters as they are obvious fan favourites but it ws always clear that they were not built to play at the Velodrome. Too much pressure (Arrache), not enough skills and a chip on his shoulder (Begeorgi), both players will definitely not be playing for us anymore.
First of all Salim Arrache, recruited from Stasbourg to be one of those wingers Marseille didn’t have in a long time never fully managed to get in the minutes he needed to win over either Jean Fernandez or Albert Emon, let alone Erik Gerets. After a full year of injuries, Salim came back for ten games but was loaned to Toulouse, then Stade de Reims where he still hasn’t managed to blossom.
The hot-headed lefty is apparently still pretty attractive to a few portuguese clubs such as Benfica. But the most interested side seems to be newly relegated Betis Seville who would be willing to take him off our hands for a million and newly promoted Xerez CD who would buy for a little more.
Fabrice Begeorgi on the other hand has been loaned to four different clubs but nothing has stuck so far and the youth product may come back home to France and is interested by a move to any of the Corsian clubs. Ajaccio and Istres seem keen on getting th player but Istres seems in he lead as they would be willing to buy him whereas Ajaccio has been asking for a loan.
More soon for the rest of the lonees, such as Jean-Phillipp Sabo and Gary Bocaly who both have impressed with Montpellier and who could be asked to stay there (even though Bocaly now seems ready to come back and prove how good he can be with us)
Cleaning out the Locker room…
By: Magnusson | 2 Comments
First of all, About Eidur Gudjohnsen, Pape Diouf said to French radio station RMC a few hours ago that there was no agreement whatsoever between Barcelona and Marseille just yet, responding to today’s AS who were declaring the contract to be signed. According to a website close to the club, Marseille might be outbid by Panathinaikos who are making a lot of noise in the beginning of the Mercato.
As for a few players we were thinking about, Didier Deschamps has decided to let go of all the players whose contracts were over at the end of the season.
First of all Renato Civelli. The Argentine was enjoying a second career at Marseille in 2009, becoming a fan favourite after being considered too clumsy to play for us. Everyone believed he would be re-upped as soon as Deschamps arrived since the player himself was hoping to stay and become an important player in next year’s squad. It won’t be the case and Civelli, who is now enjoying vacation in Argentina, won’t have much trouble finding a new club. Read the rest of this entry »
Zubar at Wolverhampton…
By: Magnusson | 5 Comments
While everyone was expecting him to go to Bordeaux where Laurent Blanc seemed very keen on welcoming him, and where he could have become the world-class defender we all know he could be at some point under the tuttelage of such a great coach, but according to “The Mirror“, Marseille, the player and Wolverhampton came to a agreement to sign the Guadeoupe-born centre-back.
Ronald Zubar is the ultimate professionnal and I will personnally miss him because he’s shown over and over how impressive he can be when people trust him enough. He’s been playing all posts in defense at Marseille and has been the ultimate professional doing so. I agree that he needed a little more polishing than we thought but so did Taïwo and I can bet that if Gerets stayed two more sesons at Marseille, we would have sold him for an obscene amount of money.
This is going to be our first official Mercato transaction (aside from Gaël Givet of course) and shows the direction Deschamps wants to go in. Zubar will leave foe a 3 million euros fee.
Also according to today’s AS, it seems that Gudjohnsen and Marseille already came to an agreement and that in the next few hours, it would be officialised. I don’t know how much credit we can give to that rumour but if that’s the case, that would be fantastic news. Gudjohnsen is a much better player than Samassa.
Olof Mellberg courted, Lyon seducing Mamadou Niang…
By: Magnusson | 3 Comments
The phone between Marseille and Turin has been working non stop ever since Didier Deschamps took office. After having downplayed very quickly all the rumors linking David Trezeget to Marseille (”I can’t help it if people want to dream. I am a dreamer myself and I love David, we’ve always had a great relationship even as teammates so it is natural for people to assume I’d be trying to get him to come play for us next year, but it’s just completely impossible”), the ex-France international is trying to lure in many players he has coached before, including Tiago and swede international Olof Mellberg.
After being refused even the possibility to talk with Werder staff about Naldo, Mellberg came in as a natural choice for Deschamps who tried to lure the then Aston Villa player when he was coaching “the Old Lady” before resigning from the job a few weeks later.
Mellberg was eventually signed a year later but never convinced this season under Claudio Ranieri despite playing a considerable amount of games. However Marseille’s new boss seems to think the 32 year-old is what the club needs for the next Champions League campaign. Marseille’s central defense has been a big problem for the team in the past two seasons and Julian Rodriguez‘ health can’t be trusted.
In what is a “surprise” to say the least, Lyon is apparently trying to get Mamadou Niang to come play for them in the Frederic Piquionne role that has not been fulfilled by Piquionne himself. With Fred gone and Sidney Govou leaving, Lyon is trying to get someone who could play with Karim Benzema and feed him balls on the left side.
Now I don’t believe this one second. Mamadou Niang, who has always had stellar performances against Lyon is Marseille’s vice-captain and that means something. But I believe Aulas and his staff are trying their hardest to do what they did to Paris a few years back with Pauleta by very publicly flirting with out most important player, making sure we fight for him and give him a very important pay-raise, thus weakening our economic force on the Mercato.
Mamadou Niang, who is everything but dumb would be well advised to keep smiling an just shut up while Pape Diouf, Jose Anigo and Didier Deschamps sweat while waiting for an answer.
We’ll be back soon.
Mathieu Valbuena leaving and all other transfer rumors…
By: Magnusson | 7 Comments
Mathieu Valbuena, one of Erik Gerets‘ favorite players was definitely one of the few players who were perceived as potential transferable players once new manager Didier Deschamps took over. Now what everybody was thinking panned out. In a conversation Deschamps had with the player on Wednesday, he told him that he was about to set up a 4-3-3 system and that he didn’t see him as a potential starter next year. Didier Deschamps believes that the diminutive player doesn’t have what it takes to take over the right side of the attack.
And in an interview with newspaper L’Equipe this morning, the Bordeaux product declared:
“Yesterday morning, I had a telephone conversation with Didier Deschamps (…), and he has been very clear, very honest with me. I am not in his eyes an indisputable starter in his next tactical system, namely a 4-3-3, because he said I do not have the qualities necessary to move to the right of the line of attack (…) . He thinks I do not have the volume to give them what they expect from a player at that position. I regret that. I do not understand that. But I prefer not to comment any more on his opinion.”
Immediately after, Pape Diouf did some damage control with french radio RTL by saying that Valbuena’s comments might have been hasty and that a player doesn’t decide to leave, the club does and that he would be calling Valbuena himself in the near future.
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